Your Top Five for 2003

-Geez, there's no way to amputate it down to five without some kind of torture or some pretty convincing threats (it's not gonna happen by email). It's probably just plain stupid to hope that this listing could help the following musicians get listened to a little more, but (no foolin') all of these are real good:

Patrick Cress, Telepathy/Liberate the Radio Stations

D'Angaro, Glerum, Bennink/Sandjutters

Absolute Zero/Crashing Icons

Berithiaume, Bailey, Frith/Soshin

Scott Ray Quintet/Active Vapor Recovery

Erik Friedlander/Quake

Charlie Kohlhase Quintet/Play Free Or Die

Jack West and Curvature/Around About Now

Lucas Niggli>Zoom/Rough Ride

David Fiuczynski/Kif

J.A. Granelli and Mr. Lucky/Gigantic

Bendian, Gauthier, Liebig, Stinson/Bone Structure

Beirach, Hubner, Mraz/Round About Monteverdi (Not as corny as you might think, and the 1923 rosewood Hamburg Steinway on this one will send most audiophile recordings crawling for a place to hide).

Jacques Chanier Trio/Quilt

The Vandermark 5/Airports For Light

Pablo Ablanedo Octet/Alegria

Thinking Plague/History of Madness

Married Couple/Looks Like A Pie To Me

Upper Left Trio/Cycling

Frank Gratkowski Quartet/Spectral Reflections

Go-Go Fightmaster/Go-Go Fightmaster (i know dumb name, but this stuff really is the super depraved high quality twisted science fiction avant jazz rock poop that you've always wanted).